


Forget About Us

by 100percentfluffster



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben Hargreeves is Alive, Ben and Klaus -centric, But no Incest between them, But not much because ew, I just don't like him but I understand he's been through a lot too, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Ol' Reggie gets what's coming to him, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Slight Luther and Allison weirdness, Slight Luther bashing? Kinda, They do the time jump to thirteen year olds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-25 21:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18171551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/100percentfluffster/pseuds/100percentfluffster
Summary: They’d done it Luther’s way for four days when Ben had had enough.They were all recently shoved back into their thirteen-year-old bodies and were once again under the strict control of one Reginald Hargreeves. Pushed to their limits every day and forced into silence and obedience. Ben was furious. The farce was doing nothing but empowering their father and Luther. Vanya was once again made to hang around the fringes while the others had to sweat and bleed for their ‘leader’.He didn’t die and then come back to life to deal with that shit all over again.





	Forget About Us

**Author's Note:**

> Hope I did the characters justice

They’d done it Luther’s way for four days when Ben had had enough.

They were all recently shoved back into their thirteen-year-old bodies and were once again under the strict control of one Reginald Hargreeves. Pushed to their limits every day and forced into silence and obedience. Ben was furious. The farce was doing nothing but empowering their father and Luther. Vanya was once again made to hang around the fringes while the others had to sweat and bleed for their ‘leader’. 

He didn’t die and then come back to life to deal with that shit all over again. He especially wasn’t going to watch _ Klaus _ be destroyed  _ again _ . Thirteen was when things started to go really bad for Number Four. Reginald had been hinting at Klaus getting another special training day soon and Ben would rather die again then let this continue the way it was for much longer. 

But surprisingly it wasn’t Ben that ended it. 

It was dinner like any other night. No speaking. Assigned spots. Klaus was playing a very tame game of charades with Ben while Allison and Luther made moon eyes at each other. Five was reading and scribbling into a book and Vanya had her eyes down on her plate picking at her food. Diego was flipping knives through his fingers and shoveling food into his mouth. 

Ben noted with sadness that Klaus wasn’t really eating and his eyes were constantly flicking around the room. Ben knew that there were several spirits around at pretty much all times whenever Klaus was sober, and Klaus was very very sober. 

Ben watched his brother’s hands shake and the way Klaus would flinch at sounds unheard by everyone else. Ben sort of missed being a ghost and seeing what Klaus could see, because then he could try and play interference. Ben couldn’t do that now. Could only make more ridiculous silent guesses at their game and hope it was enough for Klaus to ignore whatever else was around them. 

“Number Six, that is enough,” Reginald commanded, a stern eye on Ben. The man was still cutting at his steak but his gaze was locked on Ben, who was mid-gesture. Reginald flicked his eyes over Klaus before visibly dismissing him as a lost cause and returned his attention to Ben, the more behaved of his children. “If you have so much latent energy, then perhaps I should schedule double the training for you for the next week.” 

Ben flinched, because yeah his training wasn’t as scarring as Klaus’ mausoleum time or as strenuous as Five’s scattered molecules and puking, but it was painful and exhausting. He didn’t like working with the monster inside him. That had been the best part of being dead. No training and no tentacles. Ben could feel Luther’s eyes on him though and he clenched his teeth to keep his sarcastic remarks to himself. 

Then Klaus laughed, and it was a bit manic and a lot discomfiting. Every eye turned to Klaus. “I don’t think so, old man,” Klaus said with a twitch of his shoulder and a roll of his eyes. 

“Klaus!” Luther warned, the silverware in his much smaller but still large teenage hands was visibly bending under the strain of his anger. 

“Number Four, that’s more training for you as well then,” Reginald replied calmly, still cutting at his steak. 

Ben’s eyes widened and he was about to insert himself into the conversation because over his dead body was Klaus going back to the mausoleum, when Klaus just laughed again, sucking the rest of the air out of the room. An unnatural coldness was wafting out from Klaus, both literally and figuratively. 

Ben shivered as his favorite brother turned angry dark eyes to their father. “I’m not going back to the mausoleum. Ben’s not going to abuse himself for you any longer. Five will blink when and where he wants. Diego will never undergo target practice with you again. Vanya will stop taking her suppressants and start becoming a real person. You,  _ father, _ will never touch another one of us again.” 

The temperature in the room was steadily dropping and the only one not noticing was Klaus himself. He looked paler than normal too, his eyes darkening and his hair moving in an invisible breeze. He looked dead. Klaus cracked a sharp smile and Ben stopped breathing momentarily because he’d never seen Klaus look like he wanted to do anyone harm, but he looked seconds away from killing Reginald. Ben had to wonder, once again, what Klaus was like in the war that Ben didn’t get to see. 

“That is no way to speak to me, young man!” Reginald scolded, but it held little power through his shivering and wide eyes. 

“Ah, but it is, because you’re  _ dead _ .” Klaus laughed again and it was hard to listen to. “You must have noticed that something is different about us, right?” 

Reginald’s eyes skittered over all of them and it was obvious that he was both scared and confused. Because yeah, four days isn’t long, but it’s long enough to notice that Diego didn’t stutter and that Five held himself like he was moments away from gutting anyone in front of him. That Allison didn’t giggle like she used to or that Vanya wasn’t quite so meek as she was supposed to be. That the monster in Ben was no longer so hidden behind a can-do attitude. The biggest difference was undoubtedly Klaus though, who never gave into Reginald’s demands and would just meet that indifferent glare with his own stare. Klaus who gave off the feeling of power with every movement, the way his eyes tracked things that weren’t there instead of shying away from it all like he had the first time they were all thirteen. 

Klaus popped another bite of food into his mouth before he carefully set his own silverware down. Luther moved to grab him but Diego’s knife was suddenly plunged into the tabletop next to the blond’s hand. Luther jolted to a stop. Klaus didn’t even blink, just kept staring at father. 

“I don’t know why you’re still here, I voted with Five to kill you. But hey, murder’s never really been my thing, so maybe this is better.” Klaus leaned back and Ben noted for the first time that Klaus wasn’t wearing the uniform. He was wearing leggings and a loose t-shirt of Diego’s. He looked comfortable in his own skin and his clothes, completely assured of himself in that moment, and completely at odds with the prim and perfect dress code of his siblings. Very Klaus. 

“What are you talking about?” Reginald demanded, trying to stay calm and in control even though it was so obvious that he wasn’t. 

“I’m talking about the end of the world. The apocalypse. The fiery death and destruction of Earth. The end that you tried so hard to stop and only created.” 

Ben glanced between Klaus and father with wide eyes. What was Klaus talking about? Reginald didn’t know, did he? But their father’s eyes widened even further and he actually stuttered as he replied, “It happened?” 

“Thanks to you,” Klaus said with an amused hum of confirmation. “You tried so hard to make something worthy of the end times, yeah? You abused us and gas lighted us until we couldn’t tell what was right and what was wrong anymore. All in an impossible effort to create a team to stop the apocalypse. How you knew it was coming, I don’t know, and don’t particularly care. Just know that you failed.” 

Reginald was smirking again now and it made Ben want to tear him to pieces. “But clearly I didn’t fail, my boy. You’re here now.” 

“Because the world ended, yeah.” Klaus pointed at Reginald and added, “Because of you.” 

“I don’t understand-” 

“You would if you were smarter,” Klaus cut him off with a wink in Five’s direction. Five

just smirked back a little shakily and stayed put in his seat. Ben could empathize with that. “You broke us into so many little pieces that you ended up killing yourself just to bring us all back together in one last ditch attempt at salvation.” 

“How do you know that?” Reginald asked with genuine amounts of confusion, curiosity, anger, and fear. 

“Because I died and I talked to you. Seventeen years in the future.” 

A murmur went through the room as Ben’s siblings all shifted and looked at each other in confusion. Ben was the only one who knew Klaus had died, and Ben would sooner forget that fact and that terrifying fifteen minutes where he thought his tether to the real world was suddenly gone.  Luther looked like he was about to scold Klaus once again for needing to be the center of attention. Ben growled, honest to god growled, and it was echoed loudly by the monster in his chest. Luther froze and looked at Ben with unease, but didn’t move any further. 

“I died in that stupid rave trying to stop Luther from being killed by the overzealous jealous boyfriend of that furry he fucked.” Luther made a wounded noise and Diego looked about three seconds away from stabbing the guy. Ben would hold him down for Diego. He still hadn’t forgiven Luther for strangling, throwing, and then walking away from Klaus. 

“I died and I talked to you, put up with your pathetic attempts at retribution, which really just showed me that you’re not worthy of my time in life  _ or  _ death. We stopped the apocalypse because we  _ were _ the apocalypse. Because you  _ made us into _ the apocalypse. So good going there, daddy-o.” 

Reginald looked like he’d been slapped and Ben couldn’t help but smirk. Finally. 

“And here we are now, doing it all again, to stop you from sculpting us into the bomb we were. So congratulations, you did what you set out to do, I guess. It only cost you everything.” Klaus paused and cocked his head to the side for a moment as he looked at Five. “Well, everything but Five’s life, really. He survived and warned us. Not that you’d care if he’s alive or not.”  

“So it was you,” Reginald stated. “You are what needs to be stopped.” 

The temperature dropped even further and Klaus was almost glowing he was so pale. “No, father dear, it was you that needed to be stopped. And look at me, this is me stopping you.” Ben thought he could distantly hear the senseless wailing of the dead and his siblings shifted uneasily around him, so he figured they could too. 

Reginald tried to smirk but it was brittle and he was shivering almost violently as he looked at his son. Klaus smiled brightly and he looked utterly terrifying because he was so calm. “You wouldn’t kill me, Number Four. You never had the stomach,” Reginald said, the shake in his voice obvious despite his best attempt. Ben wondered what Reginald would say if the man knew Klaus had gone to the Vietnam War for nearly a year.

Klaus chuckled and shrugged, “No, but Five would. Hell, I think Diego would. Maybe Vanya?” Klaus leaned forward, his elbows carefully placed on the table, oddly graceful and humble at the same time. “Or Allison could rumor you to forget about this entirely, like Vanya. Maybe let Ben’s monster rip you apart like it did him. We could send you to the moon, I guess. Far out of our reach.” Klaus took a sip of his water and looked at his siblings around the table. All of them were shaking from the cold and he frowned slightly. His attention was quick to return to his father. “I recently came into the ability to make the dead physical again for a short amount of time. I could toss you in that damn mausoleum and see how long it took for the dead to tear you apart. I don’t think it would take long, really.” 

“We can’t punish him for things he hasn’t even done yet,” Luther said, louder than expected but not nearly at his normal volume. His silverware was bent out of any semblance of shape but dropped forgotten on the table. 

“He punished us every day,” Diego bit out. 

“He’s a threat to the timeline,” Five said evenly, murderous eyes fixed on his father. 

Ben could feel the monster within him shifting, impatient to tear into something, especially something on offer like the scared old man before him. He swallowed with difficulty and said, “I don’t think we should kill him because then Klaus would have to see him.” 

Klaus hummed in thought and gave Ben a grateful smile. “A good point.” 

“And we’re all still thirteen. We’d need a legal guardian or we’ll be separated,” Vanya pointed out, her tone flat but not meek. A pretty good difference in Ben’s opinion. 

Reginald slammed his hand onto the table and shouted, “Now, listen here!” Diego’s arm moved so fast that Ben barely saw it, just felt a shudder of anticipation from the monster within him and then a blade was slicing through Reginald’s skin and pinning the hand to the wooden table beneath. 

Ben winced at the shout that Reginald let out but Diego just said, “So what are our 

options?” 

Luther stood up so fast his chair went flying across the room to smash into the wall. “Stop!” he shouted. 

Allison looked a little queasy but didn’t immediately jump up to help Luther so Ben figured she was seeing the bigger picture here. “Stop what?” Klaus asked. “Stop daddy dearest from performing experiments on us without our consent? Stop him from abusing us? Stop Vanya from becoming a ticking time bomb? Stop Ben from dying in the future? Stop the world from dying?” 

Luther looked like he was half angry half defeated. “We can’t do this! We still owe him everything.” 

“We owe him our financial stability. That’s about it,” Allison said, her first words of the evening. 

“What?” Luther responded, clearly blindsided by his lover sister not backing him up. 

“And if you think about it, we’ve already earned our inheritance. We’ve already done everything he asked. Just not yet,” Five added. “So really, we owe him nothing.” 

“Pain,” Vanya said, flat as ever. “We owe him a lot of pain. And fear. And crippling self-esteem issues.” Klaus gestured to Vanya in agreement. The room was finally starting to warm up again and that not quite real screaming in the background faded away. Though Ben knew for Klaus it was still as present as ever. 

Klaus, who was looking a little more alive than a minute before, watched Reginald’s hand bleed and said, “I think the answer is obvious.” 

Five nodded his head in agreement and Diego just smirked. Ben felt a little behind. “What is it then?” he asked. 

Klaus, Five, Diego, and Vanya all looked to Allison. Ben followed suit. She stood up and faced their father who was trying to pull the knife back out of the table and release his hand. He stopped and looked up at her, all command from his figure gone. “Please, no--” 

“Allison, don’t!” Luther commanded. Allison just turned to him and said, “What other option do we have?” 

“Just let him go!” 

“And he’ll either kill us, turn us in, or continue to try and wrestle control over us,” Five said, his eyes never leaving Reginald. 

“He’s our father!” Luther responded. 

“Doesn’t make him a good man. Doesn’t mean we deserve to suffer,” Allison said quietly. “Luther, I won’t hurt him. I’ll just make sure that he can’t hurt us anymore.” 

Klaus stood up and leaned on the table to face Luther. “You may not have been in the same situation as some of us, hurt as badly as the rest of us but that doesn’t mean we deserve to live in that pain. He literally drove me insane, Luther. He pushed Ben to his death. He pushed Vanya to her breaking point. That’s a  _ fact _ .” 

Luther looked at Ben and Vanya, but his eyes returned to Ben. Because twelve years later and Ben was still the biggest loss they’d suffered. Ben was the (now) living proof of just how out of control things could get. Ben watched Luther’s shoulders fall and Ben could finally breathe right again. 

Klaus just grinned and gestured for Allison to go ahead. She turned back to face Reginald across the table and she took a deep breath. “ _ I heard a rumor that you will never touch any of us again.”  _ She paused and then said, “ _ I heard a rumor that you will never tell anyone about our powers.”  _

Five blinked over to her, sitting on the table just to her side, and leaned over to whisper in her ear. Ben looked away from them to look at their father, who was watching with that same wide-eyed mystified look that Allison’s victims often had, but also with a hidden rage buried beneath it all. It terrified Ben. Because their father was a man that bent and broke seven children that then bent and broke the world, how could they ever be safe from him? 

Five stopped whispering. Allison cleared her throat and spoke again, “ _ I heard a rumor that you forgot we had powers of any kind. I heard a rumor that you left all of our care and raising in the hands of Grace. I heard a rumor… that you forgot about the coming end of the world.” _ Five blinked out of the room but Ben but didn’t have to wonder where for long. Five returned less than twenty seconds later with seven ornate journals in hand, all of which Ben knew would be filled with Reginald’s spindly handwriting. 

Klaus clapped his hands loudly and smiled. “Brilliant, Ally!” Ben didn’t look at the rest of them, he was watching Reginald’s face, watching in amazement as that fear and anger slowly bled away and out of his awareness. Ben was soon faced with a very confused and pained man that he barely recognized. That spark that Ben had learned to hate and dread was missing in those old eyes. 

Diego reached over and yanked the knife out of the table and consequently Reginald’s hand. The man quickly cradled it to his chest and looked around at them all with a look of incomprehension. “Children? What’s going on?” He looked down at his hand and paled considerably. “Grace!” he shouted as he ran out of the room to find medical attention. 

“I can’t believe we just did that,” Luther said gravely and with clear regret. 

“I can’t believe we just did that!” Klaus shouted in excited agreement. Klaus turned to Ben with a wide smile that lacked all that otherworldly cold from before and held only relief and love. “We’re safe!” Ben smiled back and thought about what they would do now. Live the lives they never could before. Ben would never have to be ‘The Horror’ again. He could just be Ben. Alive and well. 

“I can’t believe we just did that!” Vanya responded with real inflection. She grinned and ran to embrace Klaus who returned the hug with fervor. 

Five dropped several matches, that he’d gotten from who knew where, into a trashcan holding the journals, and said as the flames sprung up, “Better believe it, bitches.” 

Diego laughed and Allison giggled like she used to. Ben just smiled and leaned back in his chair, never having felt so light. And all that had to happen was the end of the world.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like Klaus, Ben, and Five in particular would never allow Reginald to continue being in a position of power over them. It would only be a matter of time.   
> I don't have a great handle on Five's personality, so he doesn't have much to do here, but I hope what I did makes sense for each character. Especially Ben.


End file.
